


Snapshots

by OwlAway



Series: Something Important [6]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Gen, Zutara Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-07-25 13:10:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20026369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OwlAway/pseuds/OwlAway
Summary: Final part of 'Something Important' series, taking place after 'How History Will Remember Us' and covering the lives of Zuko and Katara. One-shot format with Zutara week 2019 chapter prompts.1. Gifts. Zuko reflects on what has changed for him.2. Speak. Katara recognises the power words have, and won't let them control her.3. Shattered. Zuko and Katara face the impossible.4. Mentor. The Fire Nation needs to learn about the true essence of fire. Zuko and Katara seek a mentor.5. Youth. Parenting is difficult, especially when you don't have the best examples from your own childhoods.6. Found. The Fire Lord's crown is missing.7. Easier. With practice, it would get easier.





	1. Gifts

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Zutara Week 2019, and all of the one-shots take place after the events of "How History Will Remember Us"
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

The air was thick with incense and the Fire Sages went through the motions of the ceremony. Zuko’s eyes stung with smoke and he swallowed the urge to cough. There had once been a time when he’d revered all the different processes and routines the sages would go through to complete their ceremonies; he had thought it so  _ incredible _ , so  _ significant  _ and  _ honourable _ .

Truly a sign of a superior culture, to have such historical significance and symbolism attached to each movement of the hand, each change in tone as they recited ancient scripture… Only a truly advanced society could appreciate such things.

He scoffed at the thought.

He’d been aught but a child, then. Believing so absolutely in the teachings of his father and grandfather, mistaking their pride and avarice for honour.

When he’d been a child, his father had been like a god to him, an impossibly high ideal that he could never hope to touch. When he was a teenager, he found the ability to see the world for what it was, but his father had still held power over him. Then he’d died and Zuko had still felt his shadow looming over him at every turn.

It had taken him weeks to summon the courage to sleep in his father’s old room.

Now he was an old man. Older than his father had ever been. The thought was disconcerting in a way; how could Zuko have lived longer than Ozai? How could he have reigned over the Fire Nation for so much longer than his father ever had?

Ozai’s reign had been but a brief spot in Fire Nation history, historically notable only for being the second-shortest reign in recorded history and for being defeated by the Avatar.

Under Zuko’s reign, the Fire Nation had promoted the ideals of harmony and cooperation between the nations, launching an all-nation initiative to start a united army and a democratic state where the colonial province of Yu Dao once stood. 

The Fire Nation had shifted its focus from war to innovation and progress, with a renewed emphasis on cultural programs and promotion of more modest, personal codes of honour based on love and respect rather than pride. Zuko had tried to lead by example.

He thought he’d done a good job, all things considered. Then again, he couldn’t have done it without his friends. His friends who had supported him and loved him with such earnest, heartfelt depth that he was continuously humbled and forever thankful.

Now, as he watched his daughter get crowned as the new Fire Lord and felt the warmth of his Water Tribe wife’s hand in his, he thought that perhaps his father’s banishment of him at thirteen years old was the greatest gift he had ever been given.


	2. Speak

_ “And I understand the weight of the duty and honour bestowed upon me. I swear by Agni’s light- _ no, wait…” Katara scowled down at the scroll. “I can’t say this.”

Ursa hummed noncommittally. “I know it’s awkward my dear, but these words have been recited at the coronation of the Fire Lady for hundreds of years,” She idly ran long fingers over Katara’s hair from her place behind her; twisting and fiddling with the strands as Katara read. “The Fire Sages are unlikely to let you change them.”

Katara leaned back against the older woman’s legs, eyeing the scrolls and scriptures spread around her on the floor. “Of all the people in the world I had to end up with the one that required research and a crown. Why is your son such hard work?”

Behind her, the sitting Fire Lady laughed. “Men usually are.”

With a huff, Katara tucked her knees up beneath her chin and glanced over to the open sliding doors that led to the veranda and private gardens. Outside, Zuko and Kiyi were playing with wooden swords. Both wearing plain tunics and with their hair tied in matching topknots.

Zuko looked much younger, playing with his sister like that. He feinted to avoid a deft stab from Kiyi and parried with her, moving around her quickly, smoothly. Like water.

“How about I swear on the light of Agni  _ and  _ Tui?” She murmured. “You know- use the oath to promote harmony and integration?”

Ursa fastened a clasp at the end of Katara’s braid. “It could work…” She allowed. “But it might be seen as too political.”

“Everything about this is political.”

“Welcome to the family,” Ursa said dryly and tapped Katara’s shoulder. Katara leaned forward to give the older woman space to stand. Zuko’s mother began to walk towards her children but paused in the middle of the room and turned to look at Katara with a shrewd eye. “I suppose it would be a chance to demonstrate the values of the new Fire Nation. If anyone can get this past the sages I think you two can.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm running behind! It's hard to keep up with daily chapters while working full time haha but I will try to get 'Shattered' up tonight


	3. Shattered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry- still running behind! Here's a sad one. I didn't want to do a sad one but this was all I had. TW- infant death

The curtains were closed, blocking out the bright sunshine and dulling the sounds of children playing outside. When Zuko opened the door, heavier than ever before with the weight of shared grief, the body on the bed didn’t move. No head lifted to greet him, no smile warmed his heart. It was as if death itself had moved into the palace and taken their bedroom for its own.

The air was thick, heavy. The sconces in the walls were unlit and a tray of food was left untouched on the nightstand. With a growing sense of nausea, he crossed the room and sat down on the edge of the bed, hand hesitating over the limp arm of his wife.

The sheets had been changed, leaving the room pristine and peaceful with no evidence of the long, traumatic birth that had ended mere hours ago.

“Did you see him?” Her voice was quiet, hoarse. “Did you hold him?”

Zuko swallowed against the rising lump in his throat. “Yes,” He whispered, his breath caught and his body drooped to lie beside her, no longer strong enough to remain upright. “He looks just like Mizumi did when she was born. He’s beautiful.”

Katara’s body shook with silent emotion and Zuko moved to press his forehead to her shoulder. When he took her hand it was cool to the touch. He didn’t know how to help her, how to heal her when his own heart was shattered and crushed with this heavy despair. “Where is he?”

“The sages are blessing him. Then they… then they’ll begin preparations.”

She tightened her hold on his hand. “Did you tell them his name?”

He nodded, tears spilling over. “Yes.”

“Good. That’s good,” She was quiet. So quiet. The verve and fight had completely left her. “You can’t cross over to the spirit world without a name.”

Zuko said nothing, simply held her hand and wept into the pillow, listening to the sound of their daughter’s laughter outside, delightfully oblivious as they grieved the loss of their son together.


	4. Mentor

The heat was stifling; the sun beat down with relentless intensity and the dry, cracked earth seemed to reflect the heat back up at them. “People really live out here?” Katara asked, squinting through the shimmering heat into the distance. “How?”

“I don’t know,” Zuko seemed nearly as put off by the heat as she was. He wiped the sweat from his eyes. “But I think most of them live underground somewhere… maybe.”

“Maybe?” Katara turned to look at him with a playful smirk. “You’re meant to be the expert.”

Zuko rolled his eyes and tightened his grip on the reins of his eel hound. “Uncle’s the expert,” He corrected. “I was never…” He looked around awkwardly. “Welcomed.”

That was why he’d left the guards behind on the ship, in favour of travelling light. It seemed most of Zuko’s foreign diplomacy visits were spent making him seem as unintimidating as possible, hiding his strength from those his family had wronged.

“Well they should be fine with you now,” Katara could see the walls now, rising from the earth. “You’re the Fire Lord.”

“Well if they weren’t impressed by Aang being the Avatar then I’m not sure me being the Fire Lord will make them open their doors.”

She reached across the narrow space between their steeds and flicked him on the side of the head. “It will be _fine_. You already know their secrets.”

Zuko didn’t look reassured, his brow furrowed with anxiety. “No, _ they _wanted to feed us to the dragons. It was the _masters_ who decided we were worthy.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“I hope we don’t get eaten.”

“Me too.” His voice was breathless, suppressing a laugh.

They exchanged nervous smiles as they came to a halt, waiting at the gates of the Sun Warrior kingdom. Zuko briefly caught Katara’s hand, gave it a squeeze and dismounted. “I am Fire Lord Zuko, leader of the Fire Nation. I came once before with the Avatar to seek wisdom, and I come again now in hope of peace.”

They waited with bated breath, but Zuko’s words seemed to bounce back at them, echoing across the walls and labyrinthine passageways of the outer ruins. Then Zuko fell into a deep kowtowing bow and waited.

A long moment passes and Katara stared down at him.

“Don’t overdo it, my love- they’ll think you’re offering the Fire Nation to them as a gift.” She teased quietly.

“They’re a proud people, I’m showing proper respect,” Zuko muttered, glaring at her. “Won’t you _please_ join me?”

“Hmm, _now_ I see why you didn’t want any of your guards or advisors joining us. The great Fire Lord, bowing to a wall.” She smirked, keeping her voice low before announcing, loud enough to be heard within the city. “I am Fire Lady Katara, wife of Fire Lord Zuko and daughter of the Southern Water Tribe’s Chief. I accompany my husband in a demonstration of harmony between the nations, and as evidence that the outside world is a more tolerant place.”

And, with a very quiet huff that only her husband would hear, she dropped into a kowtow beside him, swallowing the sudden fear that a dragon was about to descend and devour them from above. Her neck and back exposed. Vulnerable.

A stranger spoke.

“What are you doing back here? We told you never to tell anyone about this place.”

Katara flinched; she hadn’t heard the man approach at all. Beside her, Zuko got back to his feet and, after taking a deep breath to steady her sudden nerves, Katara followed suit.

The man before her was not at all what she had expected. When she’d been told that the Sun Warriors were an ancient civilisation she had expected them to look like the Fire Sages- old people in flowing robes with a strict emphasis on pomp and ceremony. This man looked more like a dignified relative of the Swamp Benders. He was dark-skinned like her and had his upper body exposed to the harsh, blinding sun. He wasn’t even that old.

He shot her a distrustful glare but returned his focus to Zuko quickly enough. “Well? What do you have to say for yourself?”

Zuko, to his credit, didn’t waver. He met the Sun Warrior Chief’s eyes straight on. “I’m here to discuss the possibility of revealing the Sun Warriors to the world; I believe-”

“No,” The Chief raised a hand. “We will never reveal ourselves.”

“The world’s at peace,” Zuko tried. “You have so much knowledge here that could help us…”

“What could be offered to us in return?” The Chief scowled. “We have protected our secrets for centuries in safety as the world around us has cycled endlessly through peace and war. We do not want to return to the world.”

With that, he turned away. Alarmed, Zuko stepped forward but there were suddenly scores of archers along the walls, all with heir bows pulled tautly and sights trained on Zuko. Katara surrounded them both with a wall of water out of pure instinct, and the Chief turned back to eye them speculatively.

“Perhaps the world has changed a little,” He murmured. “But it doesn’t change my mind. The Masters blessed you, Fire Lord, and out of respect to them I will not kill you, but you are not to come here again.”

Zuko wasn’t willing to leave it at that. “Coming here, meeting the Masters… it changed my life,” He pleaded. “What they taught me about fire, it’s important. There are generations of firebenders out there who don’t know the true nature of fire. They see it as a tool of destruction and war but that’s not the way forward.”

The Chief wasn’t walking away. Zuko seemed to take that as a good sign and stepped forward again.

“You would be able to rebuild- take on apprentices and restore the city to its former glory. I want to help you- to make sure that no one ever threatens your way of life here.”

The Chief wasn’t looking convinced and Katara stepped forward, placing a solid hand of support on Zuko’s shoulder. He didn’t look at her but she felt the tension in his back ease. “If you’re not ready yet, I understand. My own tribe are private people too, but there are benefits to open trade with the world. We don’t need you to say yes today, but… please don’t say no. Think it over.”

The Chief eyed her dubiously and frowned. “I-” But he didn’t get the chance to say more as a great shadow blocked out the sunlight. The Sun Warriors and the Chief himself all immediately fell to the ground and Zuko grabbed Katara’s hand as the great dragons spiralled through the air and came to land beside them.

Zuko pulled her down to the floor into another low bow but Katara kept her head up; she couldn’t look away from the firebending masters. There were two large dragons that Zuko and Aang had told her about, blue and red and fierce-looking but there was a third, smaller dragon beside them too; deep red and bright-eyed. Where the two larger dragons held their heads high, the smaller dragon’s head was lower, eyeing Zuko and Katara almost at their level.

One of the great dragons approached Zuko and stood over him, hot breath adding to the already near-unbearable heat of the sun. Zuko gently extricated his hand from hers and sat up, meeting the dragon’s eyes. A long, silent moment passed before the dragon breathed fire at Zuko.

It took everything in Katara not to react. She fisted her hands in the dirt beneath them and turned burning eyes to the Sun Warrior Chief, whose eyes were wide and fixed intensely on the colourful flames surrounding Zuko. Logically, she knew enough about the dragons and the Sun Warriors to know that this fire would not harm him but, nevertheless, her instinct raged against her control, demanding that she douse the flames and end the perceived threat to her husband’s life. 

The dragon closed it’s huge jaws and the flames dispersed, leaving Zuko, now standing. He reached for the dragon’s snout but it moved smoothly away, turning to return to its partner who watched Zuko and Katara intensely.

Instead, the smaller red dragon skittered to fill the place its elder had left, and pushed its nose against Zuko’s still outstretched hand. Pale fingers spread over the snout and Katara turned to see a look of astonished wonder on Zuko’s face. His eyes danced over the carnelian scales and the dragon pushed almost... affectionately against his hand, nearly knocking him over. Though it was the smallest of the three, it was still at least twice Appa’s length, huge and streamlined like a ribbon falling through the air.

“If the Masters have decided this is how it must be then I won’t stand in their way,” The Chief slowly got to his feet, looking sullen. “But we will keep _ our _secrets.”

“I understand,” Zuko turned to bow his head to the Chief, but his eyes never left the dragon’s. “I… Thank you for this honour.”

Katara wasn’t sure what was happening, but she held her breath as the Sun Warriors retreated back into their hidden city and the two larger dragons spiralled into the air. “What does this mean?” She asked and Zuko grinned at her, all sunshine and warmth.

“They’ve trusted us with their child,” He breathed and took Katara’s hand, bringing it up to rest against the great dragon’s nose. It was warm to the touch, not cold like a normal lizard and she gasped, taken aback. The dragon pressed against her hand and made an odd, snuffling sound. “This dragon will help the Fire Nation find itself again, and show the world that nothing is lost forever.”


	5. Youth

When their daughter reached the age Katara had been when her own mother died, Katara was reminded how much of her childhood had been lost to war. Mizumi looked up at her with wide trusting eyes and asked for her mother to make sure the demons weren’t hiding under her bed. Katara remembered when her demons had been men on black ships with red cloaks.

When Mizumi struggled to bend either of her parents’ elements, Zuko remembered how his own father had mocked his early attempts at Firebending and taught her how to fight with swords. When unkind whispers filled the halls about the Fire Lord’s heir who couldn’t bend fire he told her about the Kyoshi Warriors whose non-bending army struck fear into the hearts of benders and non-benders alike. He told her about the non-bending chiefs of both Water Tribes and the non-bending Earth King. When she was able to light a spark months later, she was pleased with her new skill but a little disappointed that she now had to split her time between swordplay and firebending. Apparently, she had been hoping to bend water like her mother.

When their second child resulted in stillbirth, Katara hid herself away to grieve alone and Zuko tried to forget through engrossing himself in his work. It was four days before Mizumi managed to escape from the watchful eye of her nanny and sneak into her parents’ bedroom, finding her mother in bed. Katara opened her eyes to see her daughter staring down at her in frightened concern and asking why they had left her alone. Katara remembered how her own father had left his children behind at the South Pole and held her daughter close, promising she’d never really leave her. Not forever.

When Mizumi’s brother learned to bend water, they both watched for signs of jealousy in their daughter. But Mizumi simply beamed at him and told him how lucky he was. It seemed their children weren’t going to have the argumentative sibling relationship their parents had ‘enjoyed’ with Sokka and Azula as children, and for that Zuko was especially relieved. Although Katara reassured him, typical sibling rivalry rarely resulted in a homicidal fight for the throne.

When their daughter was thirteen, Zuko learned that she had been picking on another girl at school. When he demanded that she explain herself at dinner, she tried to claim it was her right to put lower nobles in their place and he was so furious at his daughter’s callous arrogance he nearly set fire to the tablecloth as he shouted her down. Mizumi had never seen her father so angry and cowered in her chair, near tears. Zuko remembered his own tears at thirteen and reached for her, pulling her close and apologising for his actions but reminding her how disappointed he was in hers.

Mizumi promised to be kinder, begged him not to tell her mother. 

When Zuko told Katara what had happened she cancelled Mizumi’s upcoming holiday to Ember Island. Instead, choosing to send her to help Avatar Aang keep the peace on his travels.

After all, the Fire Lady reasoned, with an icy smile as the teenager raged, it would help her understand her place in the universe… just as it had for Mizumi’s father.


	6. Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fire Lord's crown is missing.

“It’s not here.”

“It has to be!” He rummaged further through his drawers. “I swear! I hid it in this chest!”

“Well, it isn’t here! You lost it!” Mizumi glared at her brother, but Hiro turned to her with wide, frantic eyes and she felt her irritation wane. She was five years older, he was her responsibility... she supposed she really ought to help him out. “Okay- first of all, does Dad know you had it?”

The guilty shuffling of his feet told her everything she needed to know. “He left it on his desk when he went out last night... I just wanted to see how it looked…”

“You tried it on?” She asked, aghast. “Why would you- that is the _ Fire Lord’s crown _ Hiro! You can’t just _ try it on _...”

“I know!” He wailed. “I just wanted to see what it looked like… it’s not like I’d ever get the chance to wear it properly.”

Mizumi eyed her ten year old brother with sympathy. The title of Fire Lord wasn’t necessarily something she aspired to; it had always been a fact of her life that someday she would rule the country like their father. “Do you want to be Fire Lord?” She asked gently, though her arms crossed self consciously in front of her, as though guarding herself against his answer.

Hiro’s blue eyes lifted from the disarray of his belongings around them and landed on her. “What?”

“Do you?” She pressed. “I won’t get mad.”

“Not really,” He said slowly. “I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do when I’m older…” He trailed off and Mizumi sighed, feeling uncomfortable.

“Well, you won’t have a future if Mum and Dad find out you lost the crown, dummy,” She said firmly. “So we’d better keep looking.”

.

“Oh,” Zuko sighed in relief. “You found it.”

“Lai did, actually,” Katara stepped forward to slide the crown into place in her husband’s topknot. “The housekeepers found it when doing the rounds before dawn. It seems like Hiro was playing dress-up last night.”

He laughed in response. “That boy is going to be the death of me. I nearly had a heart attack when I couldn’t find it.” 

“Hmm,” She leaned forward for a chaste kiss. “I went by his room to talk to him about hiding things that don’t belong to him but I overheard the kids talking…” She smoothed her hands across Zuko’s shoulders and bit her lip, unsure. Zuko stilled, sensing her unease and bent to look into her eyes.

“Are they okay? I’m not angry about the crown.”

“No, no- nothing like that,” She reassured him. “I mean- yes, Hiro’s a little frantic. They think he’s lost the crown, but I’m more concerned that he can’t picture his own place in the world. His future. If he’s not going to rule a country, he can’t see what else he could do.”

Zuko brought his hands up to hold hers, face pensive. “I’ll talk to him,” He reassured her, kissing her knuckles. “If we can find our place in the world I’m certain that he can.”

“Go on then,” Katara smiled as his crown glinted in the morning sunshine. “Show him there’s nothing to worry about.”


	7. Easier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With practice, it would get easier.

With practice, she reminded herself, it would get easier.

Zuko was fretting over his letter, somewhere inside- the rustle of papers and frequent little huffs were beginning to grate on her. “Come and join me, my love,” She called, sinking deeper into the thermal pool and sighing at the way the heated water eased the pain in her joints. “The water’s lovely.”

“Just five more minutes,” Zuko called. “I should remind Mizumi that the councilmembers like to convene an hour before official meetings to prepare…”

Katara’s head fell back against the rocky side of the pool, exchanging a significant, knowing look with the red dragon draped across the mountainside. “She _ knows _ that, Zuko.”

“I know she knows,” He said, sounding a little panicked. “But what if she forgets?”

Katara turned to face the house and leaned over the edge, the cool night air hitting the exposed skin of her torso was a shock to the system but she was able to peer inside the bedroom. Inside, she could see Zuko, wrapped in a thin red robe and hunched over his letter with one hand tangled in long, free-flowing grey hair. It was such a familiar sight to her now, a regular sight in their everyday life... Zuko at his desk, deep in thought.

But that wasn’t what this trip was for.

She brought a trailing length of warm water out of the pool and slowly manoeuvred it to wrap around his elbow, just gently tugging him arm around until he was forced to look at her. “She won’t forget,” Katara reassured him, sinking back into the water. “She’s been preparing for this since she was twenty years old. If you could manage at sixteen with no practice, then I’m sure Mizumi will be just fine. She’s had decades of preparation. She doesn’t need you sending her reminders and micromanaging her.”

Behind her, Druk huffed in agreement and Zuko eyed the dragon with a scowl. “Traitor.”

Katara laughed freely and pulled Zuko to his feet. He winced as a joint cracked- simply a sign of old age and nothing to worry about but Katara cloaked a hand in water to ease the pain anyway. He smiled down at her and waved her hand away, bending to kiss her forehead and run a hand over her hair.

“Sorry, I’m a terrible husband.”

“You’re a terrible retiree,” Katara groused but smiled as he shed his robe and joined her in the pool. “You can take it easy now, Mizumi’s been the Fire Lord for six months already, with no major difficulties.”

“I know,” Zuko reached over the side of the pool to stroke Druk’s tail, which rested against the rocky edge. Just close enough for Zuko to reach. The tail twitched closer in response and Druk’s shoulders eased. “It’s hard not to interfere. I’ve been doing it so long… what do I do now?”

“Rest,” Katara moved close and nestled against his side. He lifted an arm over her shoulders obligingly. “Drink tea, travel, enjoy our twilight years.”

Zuko smiled and sank against the wall of the pool. “We’re so old,” He sighed. “When did that happen?”

Katara spun a silvery river of water over their heads, idly. “I think around the first grandchild.”

“Or maybe my first grey hair.”

She snorted. “Your first grey hair appeared at thirty.”

There was a cheeky twinkle in his eye. “Then we’ve been old since then.”

“Hmm,” She looked up at the stars, clear and bright in the inky blue sky and she couldn’t fight the eerie sense of melancholy. “A long time.”

“A long time,” Zuko agreed. “But…” He trailed off, sounding faintly unsure, like the boy he’d once been. “... We did alright, didn’t we?”

Katara tore her gaze from the stars to look at him, but he was looking up at the sky with wide, pleading eyes. In those eyes, she could see tiny pinprick reflections against a golden backdrop. They had shared a life together, they’d raised children together, ended a war and rebuilt a world together.

They’d had challenges, some had seemed insurmountable at the time but with practice, it had gotten easier. They adapted, adjusted, evolved to meet and overcome those challenges every time.

“Yes, Zuko. We did alright,” She smiled. “We did great.”

Retirement was just another challenge and if Zuko was still having trouble letting go and relaxing… well, with practice, it would get easier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first Zutara week done! (In two weeks, sorry)
> 
> Back to How History Will Remember Us, now!


End file.
